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A school's recipe for success on the FCAT
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer HOMOSASSA -- The scene repeats itself at holiday potluck dinners all the time. Someone brought a special casserole that captured everyone's attention. Now that the dish is empty, every cook there wants to know the secret ingredient. Homosassa Elementary School knows that proud feeling as educators throughout the district have sought the detailed recipe that has brought that school so much success. After a disappointing showing in 1999, the first year that the state assigned school grades (Homosassa got a D), the school rebounded earning an A grade each of the past three years. But pinpointing the exact ingredients that have spiced Homosassa's student performance is not so simple. "That is one of the most frustrating things about this accountability focus," said School Board Chairwoman Pat Deutschman. "How do you ensure consistent, sustainable improvement?" She added, "If we had the answer to that, all the schools would be A's." * * * No other school in the district can match Homosassa's grade point average. That fact is even more intriguing because Homosassa Elementary has the largest percentage of students from poor families in the district. Such schools have tended to score lower on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the basis for school grades. Of the 18 elementary schools in the five-county metropolitan region earning A's for the past three years, Homosassa is one of just three with a large number of students on free and reduced-price lunch because of their families' income levels. At Homosassa, nearly 60 percent of the students meet that criteria. Countywide, about half of elementary school students do. Ask principal Roberta Long her recipe for student achievement and she cites a list loaded with many of the same initiatives schools have begun to improve FCAT scores, from tutoring to after-school help to special incentives. But what else is special about Homosassa Elementary? The school has several characteristics that might give it an edge when it comes to higher student achievement. According to the most recent school indicators report, based on 2000-01 information, Homosassa far outspends all other elementary schools in their per-pupil expenditures. The countywide average expenditure for regular students is $4,336. At Homosassa, the amount is $6,359. But that figure is easily explained by two other interesting statistics. The school also has the most senior staff and the highest percentage of faculty members with advanced degrees among Citrus elementary schools. Countywide, teaching experience in the elementary schools averages out to 13.4 years. At Homosassa, the average is 17.1 years. Likewise, at elementary schools throughout Citrus County an average 36.7 percent of faculty hold advanced degrees. At Homosassa Elementary, exactly half of the faculty earned degrees beyond their bachelor's. Both those factors, number of years' experience plus advanced degrees, earn teachers more money, driving up the cost per student. Such teachers bring a special quality to the instructional mix, according to Long. "They have a very conservative, back-to-basics approach," she said. "My teachers very much understand the tenets of how to teach reading here using phonics. They have an individual special interest in these children." Long also credits her staff with their ability to keep strong, structured, orderly classes. "My teachers provide discipline. They have focus," she said. Long's experienced teachers add another clue to the mix of reasons for the school's success. She said their approach means they are very serious about establishing a strong foundation for children to build on in the future. For Homosassa, that means a higher-than-average rate of retention -- having students repeat a grade. Holding children back would give them an edge on the FCAT since they already had been exposed to the same material earlier. Long said students who have not mastered the skills they need to should be held back. "We do retention in order for students to have a good foundation," Long said. "We try to catch it early. It's a matter of developmental maturity . . . they have to be to a certain level before they can process the concepts." The school also goes the extra mile to explain to parents why children are retained and to try to remove the idea that holding children back is a bad thing. For many children who are struggling, Long said, retention is the best possible news. The fact that Homosassa is such a small school means that its statistical information is volatile. Small variations, such as one class of students moving through the school with higher numbers of struggling students, could throw the whole formula off, causing scores and the school's grade to plummet. Long is realistic about that possibility. She said she knows that the strategies her teachers use with Homosassa students are reaching them and improving their achievement, regardless of what future school grades might be. She points to efforts of teacher Georgine McGeoch, who coordinates many of the special, after-school remedial and enrichment programs that draw students who need help in certain areas. Homosassa also allocated money to provide a summer program last year and has used various financial resources to beef up its program, including devoting a teacher to science training this year, since the FCAT has added a science component. The school has added special labs for reading and math. Nearly every student in the school visits regularly for computer-based enrichment programs in those subjects. "We've been able to identify children who are not doing well in certain areas," McGeoch said. "It allows us to give them that little bit of extra help." Since Homosassa has been an A school, it has received state school recognition dollars for its efforts. This year, that means $36,440. Long has put those dollars to good use to try to prompt repeat academic performances. In the past, the dollars were used to give children money to buy books at the annual book fair, provide incentive dinners at local restaurants and bring special presentations into the school. Teachers and other staff have gotten pats on the back in the form of bonus money carved out of that special recognition pot. Fold into that mix a heaping cup of community support and support for the community. With such a large percentage of Homosassa's families hovering at the poverty line, teachers and administrators are constantly reminded that learning the intricacies of decimal points or the finer details of writing a perfectly organized paragraph might not be the biggest concerns on students' minds. So Homosassa's staff goes the extra mile, drawing together to pay the utility bills of families in need, donating time and resources to help whenever they can, Long said. The school also sees many negative factors of poverty, demonstrated by the frequent visits from the state Department of Children and Families and the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. But Long said the school works hard to shield the students, turning the children's attention to their lessons. "It's very time consuming. It's very hard work," she said. "We're different because we have to be." The community returns the favor. From Methodist church members who tutor groups of children to cash donations from the Homosassa Civic Club and area businesses, to a large group of retail employees donating new underwear for children who need it at the school, Homosassa Elementary has been the beneficiary of its community's generosity. The Women of Sugarmill Woods sponsor monthly luncheons to honor student writing achievements. Several local women knit hats so the children will be warm when cooler months arrive. Another group donates shoes. Readers and tutors from the community have been organized by a school volunteer. Baseball pitcher Mike Hampton, a former Homosassa student who plays for the Colorado Rockies, donates his time and resources when he can. "We are blessed," Long said. She is proud of what Homosassa has accomplished, but she cannot point to one or two or even 10 different things her school has done would prompt the same achievement at other schools. Jan Morphew, director of research and accountability for the district, agrees that there is no magic recipe to create an A school. There are too many variables. "You can evaluate if a program has been successful at a school but not across schools," she said. "What we know is that the combination of what they have done there, it works." Despite her school's successes, Long still is not an overall fan of the FCAT and school grades. "We need accountability, but we're failing to meet the holistic needs of kids," she said. In preparing for the FCAT, "we're cutting into their creative time, the arts, and we're adding stress in classrooms, which is not allowing room for the joy of learning." Still, she said, her school has succeeded in moving the bottom-scoring quarter of students up a level or two, a critical factor in the school grade formula. She is proud that 83 percent of her students score in the highest levels for reading. There is also growth in writing but "we need a lot of work in math," she said. Every year the students change and every year the state raises the bar higher, making it more difficult for schools to earn and maintain an A. But Long doesn't let that discourage her efforts. "The law of averages says we can't make an A forever," she said. "But we are going to have quality instruction and meet students' needs and we're not going to worry about that."
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